Plague Of The Revenants (10 page)

Frey made to get himself ready whilst I went to fetch Kit and Paul. I did not like having to rely on the two of them all the time and hated to think what the worry must be doing to Thorpe. Lose his only daughter and it was possible he might break down completely.
The two listened carefully to the plan. “Sure you’re not leading us directly into a suicide mission?” Asked Kit.
“The place may be overrun but Frey tells me the lumber yard is surrounded by strong chain link fencing,” I said. “There’s a good chance it will have held. And besides, it isn’t as if we’re going to be travelling on foot. That truck over there looks sturdy enough, it’s well maintained and it’s got more than enough diesel. If things get too hairy it isn’t as if we even need to get out of the vehicle.”
“There are always risks with those things,” said Kit darkly. “You know that as well as anyone.”
“Look,” I said with a sigh. “We need to get this passageway finished if we’re to have any chance of long term stability. It’s cold enough in that church as it is and I for one don’t fancy having to forage for fuel to feed that generator all winter. Get into the church and we’ll have proper fires and we can use those fires for light as well. We’ll hardly need electricity at all, if only we can make the place secure.”

My argument won the day and we set out an hour later.
I drove. Paul and Frey sat next to one another. Kit, as the smallest of the group, sat in the generous storage space behind the seats and against the window. We were armed as best we could. I had my trusty hammer in the back whilst Kit had the gun. Paul carried a tyre iron whilst Frey had the baseball bat and we all had a multitude of small knives concealed about our persons, not that they would do much good if we were to lose our main weapon.
“What about the swarms?” Asked Paul.
“We’re avoiding them,” I told him. “I went up to see Hammond on the tower just before we left and he pointed out where the swarms are.”
“Are there any where we’re going?”
“Yeah the whole fucking town is a swarm which is why we’re going to have to tread extra carefully.”
“Great,” muttered Paul, sounding deeply downhearted.
“It won’t be as bad as that,” I told him cheerfully, wishing I could feel as confident as I sounded. “We’ll be in the van most of the way which I’ve checked over and is in top shape.”
“There’s also a fence around the builder’s yard,” put in Frey. “Hopefully the revenants won’t have breached it.”
“And if they have?” Asked Paul. Nobody spoke. We all knew what that would mean.
As we came closer to the town we found the road was blocked with vehicles and often there was no way around them. We had to drive back the way we came and find another route which inevitably delayed us even further. The revenants also became more frequent as we drove closer. Sometimes we were able to leave them behind in our wake. Sometimes, when we were blocked in by the piled up traffic, we had to reverse and nudge them out of the way. They banged their fists on the windows, leaving bloodied handprints in their wake and it was a nervous time to get away from them before they caved the windows in completely. I drove as slowly as possible in as high a gear as possible in a bid to quieten the engine. The revenants still saw us of course and came out after us. I knocked them out of the way but tried to avoid driving straight into them. The last thing we needed was to write off our only vehicle and become stranded in the middle of nowhere.

This town was in nowhere near as poor a state as the one I had originally fled from.
There was still blood on the road, corpses shot through the head and lying sprawled beside the road, burned out vehicles and the occasional makeshift barricade, and the revenants were still thick but there were not swarms on every corner as they had been in the larger town. I kept an eye out for survivors but at this stage I was hardly hopeful. Unfortunately the lumber mill was located a quarter of a mile out from the town centre which means we would have to drive through the thick of whatever was there.

We turned a corner. The lumber merchant’s was so close I could actually smell the cut wood, and yet we seemed so far away, for the road was completely blocked with revenants who now turned their full attentions towards us. To make matters worse the road ahead was completely blocked by a car that was crashed in the middle of the road
.
“No use,” I said. “We’ll never get round it.”
“Is there another way?” Asked Kit.
“There is and we’ve already tried it,” said Frey worriedly. “Unless we can shift this car we’re still a good two hundred yards away.”
“Impossible to start hauling lumber that far away,” said Frey. “Not in these conditions.”
“Take the wheel,” I said to Kit. “I’ll get out and try to move the car out of the way as best I can. In the meantime you drive back with the van and sound the horn. That should keep them busy for a while.”
“I’m not sure about that,” said Paul doubtfully. “We might get trapped and stuck or you might get bit.”
“How much do we need this wood?” I replied with a shrug. It was a rhetorical question.
“I’ll come with you,” said Paul.
“And me,” put in Frey.
We all three of us slipped out whilst Kit reversed the truck backwards towards the revenants who crowded around her. We hurried up to the car and I smashed the window with the hammer. It was a blessing the battery was flat so the alarm didn’t go off. I opened the driver’s side door, released the handbrake and we began to push with all our might. To begin with it was no use. The car seemed to be stuck in a pothole or something and it was all we could do to rock it forward and back. In the meantime the guttural howls of the revenants were getting ever closer and when I looked around I was horrified to see the truck enveloped by a substantial horde.
“Shit!” Exclaimed Paul, looking up to catch sight of the melee around the van. “We have to do something!”
“We need to move this car,” I said urgently. “Until we do so we’re all trapped.”
We applied our shoulders to the vehicle and reapplied our efforts. In time the car began to move, agonisingly slowly at first, then slowly but surely. I turned around. The revenants were advancing fast, far too quickly for us to be able to move the car in time. It was no use. The truck whizzed to a halt just in front of us and we leapt inside, then Kit backed into the car itself and moved it the rest of the way. The revenants came to envelop us. Kit tried to drive forward but one of the revenants became caught under the wheel. Now we were the ones who were trapped. Kit slammed the van into reverse and the van jolted backwards with a sickening crunch. It was enough. She moved forwards fast and at last we were free.

Kit
revved the engine then set off at speed down the narrow road. The revenants stepped up to meet her but she ploughed them down in her path, without hesitation or remorse, just as I had taught her. “Slow down,” I said urgently. “You’ll wreck the thing if you carry on like this.” Fortunately the putrefying bodies were softer and far more malleable than a living human would have been and so the damage was not so bad. But they still crashed against the metalwork as they hit and I was fearful the windows would break. At the end of the road she spun the van around and came back the same way and this time she drove past the revenants then knocked them down from the side. It was better than hitting them head on but still didn’t do much good for the van. Still, at least it thinned out the numbers enough to give ourselves a little breathing space.

The builder’s merchant occupied a few acres of land and consisted of several open walled storehouses, a couple of sheds and a sturdily built brick office.
“Let me out here,” I said, pointing to just before the gate. “I’ll cut the chains and you can drive right inside.”
“There are too many,” said Kit with concern. “We’ll never break through those gates and have them locked up in time before they charge us.”
“At least the perimeter fencing is intact,” I said with relief. “You’re going to have to distract them with the truck. All I need is a few seconds to have us through.”
“We don’t have long,” said Frey. “And we attracted enough attention to ourselves as it is.”
I took the bolt cutters and leapt out of the vehicle, charged over to the chain link fencing where I started working at the heavy chain. It was thick and strong and would not give easily. I turned my head to see the swarm starting to pour around the corner and down the road, reforming after the truck had scattered them. We were as good as trapped once more. I squeezed hard on the bolt cutters. The lock snapped sharply against my grip. I hurried to release the chains then flung the gate open and roared to the truck to approach. Kit did not hesitate. I held the gate open and she whizzed inside, then I closed the gate, took a spare padlock from my pocket and bolted the gate back up again. The horde came forward quickly and began to press and gnaw against the chain link fencing. We were safe from the revenants for now but at the same time trapped unless we could somehow find the room to break out.

We made our way over to the yard whilst Kit drove the truck right up to it.
I climbed on top of the stack of fence posts and began passing them down to the others who proceeded to load them on to the truck. From my raised vantage point I saw that the commotion had indeed attracted quite a number of revenants who now converged upon the fencing. We would need to work fast. All of a sudden my vision alighted on two large pickup trucks which almost glistened in the autumn sunshine. I stopped what I was doing and pointed keenly.
“A sight for sore eyes,” I exclaimed.
“Should we take them?” Asked Frey.
“I don’t think we can afford to pass up the opportunity,” I replied keenly. “They look like they each have large engines and that’s exactly what we’re going to need if we’re going to power through this swarm.”
“If we take those trucks we need only make one journey,” said Paul. “And we’ll stand a far better chance of making it through with three trucks than with just the one.”
Kit hurried over to the vehciles and tried the doors. “Locked!” She exclaimed in frustration. “But they’ve both got their alarm lights flashing so at least we know the batteries aren’t dead.”
“We need them,” I said decisively. “We can take two trucks and load them up with as much as we need. We could take as much as we want and not have to come back to this shithole. And besides, think of the value of two more trucks to the rest of our operations.”
“But the keys?” Said Kit.
“In the office,” I replied, reclining my head in the direction of the brick building. “They have to be.” I started to climb down from the stack of posts and took up my hammer. “Take over passing those posts down,” I said to Paul. “I’ll break into that office, see what I can rummage up.”
I hurried across the yard to the office, swung my hammer and smashed the window of the office without ceremony. I leaned my head cautiously though the window. No revenants were about inside, nor did I expect them to be. I figured that had there been any revenants around they would have already made their presence felt when we broke into the yard. Still, no point in hanging around unnecessarily. I climbed quickly through the window and landed nimbly on the floor below. Looking around the ransacked space it was clear somebody had been here, and recently. Papers were strewn everywhere and the desk had been overturned, possibly to create some sort of makeshift barricade. I was instinctively on edge. Perhaps this office was not as safe as I thought? I looked around. There was a strongbox on the wall. I smashed it open with my hammer and the keys to the two vehicles all but fell into the palm of my hand. But there was no time to celebrate. From the reception beyond I became aware of a fast shuffling sound. Having had far too many close encounters in the cramped indoor spaces (in truth I was still a little spooked from my encounter in the farmhouse the other day) I decided not to stick around and take it on. I had the keys to the vehicles and I certainly wasn’t going to stick around and be a hero. I slipped the keys into my pocket and started to climb back through the window. A shard of glass caught against my jumper and as I strove to free myself I was horrified to hear the office door burst open before me and heavy footsteps advancing quickly. I made a dive for the concrete floor outside but just as I was sliding towards freedom something grabbed hold of my trouser leg. I instinctively kicked out. It was no use. I was stuck fast and though I struggled frantically I was not able to shake off the grip of whatever it was that held my leg. I closed my eyes, waiting for the sharp, tearing pain that would signal my slow and terrible demise.
“You’re alive!” Exclaimed the fearful voice.
I was so surprised at hearing a human voice I stopped struggling and half fell back inside the office. I spun around to be greeted with the sight of an Asian boy of around eighteen with lank greasy hair and wide, fearful eyes staring fearfully at me. He was tall but very thin and his clothes were filthy. It was clear he had been hiding out here for some time. The boy continued to regard me with terror until I realised I was still brandishing the hammer, ready to strike. I lowered it slowly, my eyes never leaving him for a second. “What’s your name?” I said slowly.
“Dev,” replied the boy.
“Dev huh? Well I’m Grant and I’m not going to hurt you.” I spoke slowly in an effort to sound reassuring. “I’m from a camp about fifteen miles away. There are a few of us. We have food and shelter and we’re safe. Would you like to come with us?”
“Me? Well sure,” stammered Dev, backing away. At that moment the door opened and two more faces, a man and a woman’s starred in. “This is Gloria and Stan,” said Dev by means of introduction. “Can they come too?”
“Sure thing,” I replied, regarding the newcomers. Stan was a stocky lad of around nineteen who had clearly once shaved his head but now allowed it to grow out so it resembled a blonde toilet brush. Gloria was a dark haired girl of about eighteen who must have been quite something when she dolled herself up but now looked pale and gaunt. Her milky white skin contrasted painfully against the darkness of her hair. “Is this all of you?” I asked.
“Yeah,” replied Stan. He spoke in a hoarse, vague voice and it was as if he was high or stoned. “So we’re going to get out of here yeah?”
“You’re going to have to come with us if you want to live,” I said quickly. “The fence isn’t going to hold them off for much longer.”
“Oh shit there are fucking hundreds of them!” Exclaimed Gloria with a scream as she looked out of the window towards the revenants hammering at the gates beyond.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “We’re just going to get a few loads of wood then we’re out of here. I’ve got the keys to the two trucks outside so we should be able to power through them easily enough.”
“Quick!” Said Dev. He fumbled into his pocket and produced the keys to the front door, hurried over and tore down the makeshift barricade they had erected around it. Before long the door was open and we were running out and across the yard.
When I emerged I saw the others had finished loading the fence posts on to the first truck and were now carrying handfuls over towards the other two trucks parked nearby. I went over and started each truck and drove it closer so we wouldn’t have so far to walk and afterwards it was all hands to the loading operation. The others looked at the newcomers with some surprise but there was no time for introductions. The three of them looked fearfully at the revenants. Gloria went and sat in the truck straight away and looked as though she was about to throw up. Sam went to stand with her. Only Dev offered us any assistance but he appeared disorientated and often got in the way. I was annoyed about this, because we could have done with all hands on deck, but at the same time I didn’t blame her for being frightened or Stan for going to comfort her. I supposed that most of the survivors we would meet from now on would have hidden out in the most hellish conditions and I could only imagine what the three of them must have gone through these past few months. The rest of us worked fast, throwing the fence posts on to the three trucks, our eyes alternating towards the fence which now started to buckle and sway at the sheer weight of the advancing revenants.
“Will it be enough?” I asked Frey, pointing to the posts as we loaded them.
“Perfect,” replied the carpenter, sounding cheerful despite the seriousness of our predicament. “If we can get all this lot home it’ll have been well worth the risk and we should have enough left over to start boarding up the farmhouse as well.”
“Add to that we’ve found ourselves some survivors,” said Paul with a nod to Dev. “Sounds as though this could turn out to be a pretty successful day all round.”
“Look out!” Shouted Paul, turning around and pointing in the opposite direction. “The fence is starting to go!”
I turned and looked to the opposite end of the lumber yard and saw that it was indeed the case. The support pole of the fencing was leaning over and the revenants were starting to climb up it. In a few moments their weight would be enough to topple that part of the fence over completely.
“We’re almost there,” said Kit. “Just half a truck to fill. We’ll leave it.”
“Keep going,” I told them and then without another word I leapt down from the pile and made my way over to the other truck which was full. I jumped inside, started it up and drove quickly to the other end of the fence where I used the truck as a sort of reverse battering ram to push the sagging fence back into position. However the fence had ridden up from the bottom and now some of the revenants began to crawl through on their hands and knees. I leapt out of the truck and hurried back and forth, smashing the heads of those who started to come through. But of course my presence also had the effect of attracting even more of the creatures over to my side and now they started to attack the fence at other angles. Soon these other parts of the fence were starting to sag and what was worse there more coming from beneath the fence than I could safely despatch with my hammer. The revenants rose from their crawl and lumbered towards me. Soon I was engaged in a desperate rear guard action, swinging to defend my throat from the hungry jaws of the undead. “We’re done!” Shouted Kit, not a moment too soon. I turned and leapt back in the truck and drove away. The revenants came cascading down the fence and into the yard. I pulled up and we hurried to tie the remaining load. Afterwards I jumped into the truck containing Stan and Gloria whilst Dev went with Kit in one truck and Frey drove Paul in the other and we turned and sped for the exit. There was no time to stop and unlock the gates so instead I drove right through them as the revenants pursued close behind and we turned and roared up the road. Fortunately my activities at the other end of the yard had served to distract them somewhat so there were not so many clocking the roads but those who did were quickly tossed out of the way. We followed the same road out and were soon clear of the town and out on the open countryside towards home.